Contextual stimulus control of conditional vasomotor and electrodermal reactions to angry and friendly faces

An experiment with 42 human Ss used the transswitching procedure to examine tonic stimulus control of phasic and tonic conditioned vasomotor heart rate, and electrodermal reactions. The conditional stimulus (CSs) were photos of angry and friendly human faces, and the unconditional stimulus (US) was a human scream. In one tonic context (blue light), the CSs were paired with the US, in the other context (yellow light), the CSs were presented unpaired. Following acquisition, an extinction series was run with the US omitted during both tonic contexts. Phasic vasomotor and skin conductance reactions differed in the positive and negative tonic segments (stronger in positive). The skin conductance responses also differed during extinction, but the vasomotor responses did not. Tonic differences (following onset of the tonic stimuli) in unelicited skin conductance response frequency, finger pulse volume, and heart rate were also found, although these developed more slowly than the phasic differences. The finger pulse volume tonic difference was greater in extinction than the skin conductance response frequency. There was no effect of the angry-friendly facial expressions, either directly or in interaction with the transswitching effects. The results were interpreted to mean that the transswitching phenomenon is not limited to one another autonomic effector, but is more generalized across the ANS (sympathetic branch). The absence of influence of the facial expressions indicates the relative weakness of the “preparedness” hypothesis in comparison with more influential contextual factors.     

Memory deficits and memory surfeits: differential cognitive consequences of tokenism for tokens and observers

Historically, women and minority group members have been underrepresented in the professions and in better paying, high-status jobs. Even when they have been admitted to such positions, these underrepresented persons often have been the only member of their social category: a token. Previous field and laboratory research has shown that "tokens" attract disproportionate attention and are either evaluated unfairly or evaluated on the basis of their normal reactions to differential treatment by majority group members. We tested the possibilities of whether tokens might suffer more cognitive deficits than would nontokens, and whether they do so even when they are treated no differently. College students were led to believe that they were sharing their views on everyday topics with three other students (actually videotaped confederates), who were either all of the student's own sex or all of the opposite sex. In a later memory test, token participants remembered fewer of the opinions that they and the three other students had expressed than did nontokens. Observers, in contrast, remembered more of what token subjects said than what the three other students said. Theoretical and public policy implications are discussed.     

Reflex responses of human lip muscles to mechanical stimulation during speech

The role played by reflex pathways in the production of movement has been a significant issue for motor control theorists interested in a wide variety of motor behaviors. From studies of locomotion and chewing, it appears that gains in reflex pathways can be altered so that activity in these pathways does not produce destabilizing responses during movement. In speech production, recent experimental evidence has been interpreted to suggest that autogenetic lip reflexes (perioral reflexes) are suppressed during sustained phonation or speech production. The present study was conducted to assess the effects of phonation, direction of movement, and ongoing speech production on reflex responses of lip muscles. The present results suggest, in contrast to earlier work, that this reflex pathway is not suppressed or absent because the amplitude of the observed response depends upon the activation levels of the various muscles of the lower lip and, therefore, indirectly on the nature of the gesture the subject is instructed to produce.     

Amount of information about the attitude object and attitude-behavior consistency

The synthesis of two separate lines of inquiry--research on information integration and longitudinal studies of attitudes--prompted the hypothesis that the degree of consistency between attitudes and behavior will increase as a function of the amount of information available about the attitude object. The hypothesis was tested in three separate longitudinal studies, ranging in length from 4 days to 4 months, that investigated the following behaviors: voting for candidates for political office, voting for two social policy election initiatives, and having an influenza vaccination. In support of the hypothesis, in each study, amount of information moderated the consistency between attitudes and behavior; and the significance of this relation remained even after controlling for the effects of a number of other potential moderators, including prior direct behavioral experience with the attitude object and attitude certainty. Consistent with previous research, direct behavioral experience was also a determinant of attitude-behavior consistency, and for the behavior of having an influenza vaccination, this relation was independent of the effect of amount of information. The discussion focuses on the interrelation among moderators of attitude-behavior consistency and on the theoretical implications of the findings.     

Perception of life stress events by older and younger women

24 women over 60 yr. and 24 younger women rated the severity of life stress events drawn from a pool of events occurring to elderly people. There were no over-all age differences, but rather strong agreement on which events were most threatening. There was some evidence, however, that the old rated 'severe' death events as less threatening than younger women.     

Antidepressant treatment of children: clinical relapse is unrelated to tricyclic plasma concentrations

Plasma concentrations of imipramine and amitriptyline and their desmethylated metabolites were measured in 20 children being treated for major depressive illness 2 wk. and 5 to 10 wk. after achieving drug dosages of 2.25 mg/kg body weight. At 2 wk. all children had exhibited clinical improvement, but by 10 wk. 4 of the 10 children treated with imipramine and 5 of the 10 children treated with amitriptyline had experienced clinical relapse of depressive symptoms. Tricyclic antidepressant plasma concentrations and ratios were comparable in the subgroups of children who maintained their clinical improvement and those who relapsed. There was no evidence of a systematic decline in plasma tricyclic antidepressant concentrations in those children who relapsed.